


So far off the record

by writersneverdie



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Beat Writer, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-06
Updated: 2013-02-06
Packaged: 2017-11-28 09:25:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/672834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writersneverdie/pseuds/writersneverdie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He’s equipment free when the kid approaches him at his locker. He holds his hand out and says, “Hi, I’m Jonathan Toews. I’m the new beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.”</p><p>Sid takes Jonathan’s hand and says, “Nice to meet you, I’m Sidney.”</p><p>“Yea, I know,” the kids says to him. He’s just being fucking polite.</p>
            </blockquote>





	So far off the record

Sidney spends a good amount of his professional life falling down. He guesses he falls about 38.7 times per game. That is a complete, legs out from under him, ass backwards falling onto the ice. He goes down onto his knees another 7.3 times per game. So, falling is something he’s good at-something he does professionally. His familiarity with falling onto the ice, however, does not translate other types of falling, like for example, falling in love. That is something he’s not familiar with doing, at all. And he might drop to the ice with ease (sometimes he even does it on purpose), but when he starts to fall in love-he fights it. He fights the fall with everything.  
____________

He told himself, his teammates, his parents and his coaches that he was ready for the media. It’s not like he wasn’t used to having a camera in his face. He’s done interviews, a lot of them. And he’s had a lot of PR training. He even had to take a few supplemental sessions after all the other rookies left because the NHL and PA didn’t agree on much, but they seemed to agree that readying Sidney Crosby for the NHL media was a high priority. So, he felt ready for it.

However, what he didn’t realize is that they are in your face the minute coach is done with them. Before he even has a chance to, like, digest for a minute. It takes some getting used to, he admits. Having a bunch of middle aged people (mostly men, but a few women) in his face even though he’s sweaty and smelly and completely NOT ready for them takes some getting used to, but by halfway into the season he’s got the hang of it. He’s got the canned answers at the ready and can pretty much get through any interview without really thinking about the questions that are being asked of him. Plus, Mario still takes a lot of attention and diverts many reporters towards him.

By his third season, he knows the regular guys and they go to him because they have to, even though they know they are going to get the same thing out of him that they always do. And, although he doesn’t exactly mean to, Sidney has put himself into a shell. After the success, winning the Hart, and Sid the Kid, he does everything he can he try to minimize his presence in the locker room when the media are involved.

After the first home game of the 2008-2009 season Sidney notices a new guy in the locker room. He’s young-maybe around Sidney’s age-and looks fucking determined to get to the front of his scrum. There is usually a hierarchy to this whole thing where the veteran beat writers with their tape recorders get closest, then the TV guys, and then whoever else takes up the rear. But, this kid, this guy he’s never even seen before, gets right in front to the left of the camera and sticks his phone right in Sidney’s face.

He takes a look at the guy’s credentials and it’s from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It looks fresh off the printer and has a picture of the kid, Jonathan Toews, looking really fucking serious. It makes Sid chuckle a bit.

Gary, the beat writer for 970 ESPN starts off, as he usually does, with a simple question about how he thought the game went. Then, he gets questions from the Penguins Website guy about the goalie play. He always likes getting questions about the goalie because he thinks his go to answer is actually pretty decent.

There’s a second of silence which gives the new guy his chance. “During the second period you took an interference penalty. Can you explain what you thought about the call and how it changed the pace of the game?”

The penalty was complete BS and Sidney had let the referee’s know it. He went to the box fired up, slamming his stick around and when, 45 seconds in, the other team scored he started the referee tirade again on his way back to the bench. In retrospect, it was a definite moment of weakness on his part. Round two was a little unsportsmanlike and they totally could have called him on it.

“I can’t say I agreed with the call, but those things happen in a game. I am just glad that we managed to find a way to win in the end,” Sid answers looking up at the kid.

Gary chimes in again with a question about the feeling on the bench and Sid answers the rest of the questions without much thought. He’s kind of annoyed, if he’s honest, with the question about the penalty because it was the one part of the game that would keep him up tonight and having to answer about it just amplified his annoyance.

When the kid asked him the question all the regular guys looked at him skeptically. While he was answering Sid saw the Penguins guy give him a dirty look. As far as Sid could tell, the kid, Jonathan, didn’t catch on to any of their disgust.

After the scrum Sid sees Gary approach the kid and introduce himself. He can’t hear what they are saying but Gary puts his arm around the kid’s shoulder and talks quietly into his ear. Jonathan slightly nods his head to whatever he is being told. Gary finishes with a pat on the back.

Sid starts to take the rest of his equipment off while some of the other guys take on the media. He’s kind glad now that they come to him first. He likes to get things he doesn’t like to do over with as quickly as possible so he can get on with day.

He’s equipment free when the kid approaches him at his locker. He holds his hand out and says, “Hi, I’m Jonathan Toews. I’m the new beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.”

Sid takes Jonathan’s hand and says, “Nice to meet you, I’m Sidney.”

“Yea, I know,” the kids says to him. He’s just being fucking polite. The kids facial expressions have changed once yet.

“Well, ah, welcome to the scrum, Jonathan,” Sidney says and then stands up to make his way to the showers.

Jonathan backs away a step and says, “thanks, I look forward to working together.”

Sidney nods his head at him and turns the corner. He’s got a shower to take, some film to watch, a hot tub to soak and a trip to the trainer to make and why in the fuck did he take that interference penalty in the second period? Maybe he’ll ask Jonathan what he thought about it, if Sidney deserved it, since he seems so fixated on it.  
__________________

It’s a month into the season and things are off to a someway rocky start with various injuries, but they are small stuff that Sidney attributes to the ebbs and flows of being a professional hockey player.

He spends extra time in the mornings at the rink because he’s trying to stay in game shape while he’s out for a few games. The only other people at the rink at this time of morning on an off day is the office people and the beat writers. He sees Jonathan pretty frequently stalking around the rink constantly with his computer under his arm, a pen behind his ear and his phone attached to his right hand. He still hasn’t seen the kid smile one time.

Sidney is in the kitchen/dining area of the locker room making himself a sandwich when Jonathan walks in. He doesn’t seem to notice Sid is there and he takes a seat on the blue couch.

“Would you like anything to eat, Jonathan?” Sid asks. Jonathan jerks his head up and looks at Sid like a deer in the headlights.

“Oh, Sidney, I didn’t think there was anyone in here. No thanks,” he says and then focuses his attention back on his phone.

He finishes making his sandwich and cleans up after himself. He usually sits at the counter on one of the bar stools but he decides to go sit with Jonathan over on the couches. 

“Mind if I sit?” he asks before sitting down.

Jonathan looks up from his phone and says, “course not.”

He starts to eat his sandwich, not really looking at the kid, who is absolutely glued to the phone in his hand.

He wonders what he’s doing. He can’t be writing a column on that thing. That would be fucking horrible if he was. He’s got a perfectly good computer right next to him. Maybe he’s doing research? Sid’s not really sure what beat writers do all day, to be honest.

“Can I ask you a question?” Sid says because he’s really curious.

“Turning the tables, eh?” Jonathan says cracking the slightest of smiles.

“I guess you could say that,” Sid responds, taking another bite of his sandwich.

“Fire away, Crosby. It’s only fair.”

Sid finishes chewing and then says, “how old are you?”

Jonathan looks a little thrown and says, “really?”

“Yea, I mean, you look a lot younger than the other beat guys, hell, you look younger than even I am, so I’m just curious.”

Jonathan actually puts his phone is his pocket before saying, “I’m 20 years old.”

Wow, Sid thinks, he is younger than him, holy shit. “20, huh? How did a 20 year old kid happen to become the beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette?”

Jonathan adjusts how he’s sitting on the couch, straightens up his back and uncrosses his leg, “well,” he pauses and Sid takes another bite of his sandwich-not letting his gaze leave Jonathan, “I went to college early and then I interned at the Gazette and I kicked ass at it. So, when the old guy who had the job before me retired I didn’t give them an option on whether or not they would hire me.”

Sid takes the last bite of his sandwich and balls the paper towel up in his hand. Jonathan slouches back into the couch and makes a move to pull his phone back out of his pocket.

“So, why hockey?” Sid asks before the kid has a chance to take the god-forsaken phone out.

“Really?” the kids says, again, to his question.

“Yea, why not, like, baseball?”

“Well, the baseball beat writer didn’t retire, first off. Second off, I know the most about hockey. I understand it.”

“Did you play?” Sid thinks that he looks like he could be a hockey player. He’s got the body for it-broad shoulders, huge thighs. Not that Sidney has been eying the guy’s lower half in his dress pants or anything.

“A little bit. I had to stop after I took a stick to the wrist in junior. Got about 4 pins in this guy,” he says holding his left hand up in the air.

“That’s a bummer. Where’d you play?”

“I’m from Winnipeg, originally. Played for some teams up in Canada until the injury at 15. Went to college here in Pittsburgh.”

Sid glances up at the clock on the wall, he’s got a doctor appointment in 20 minutes, so he should get going.

“One more question,” he says standing up.

Jonathan looks up at him and says, “yea?”

“Should I keep calling you Jonathan, or do you prefer something else?”

The kids cracks another smile and says, “I usually go by Jonny, but whatever.”

Sidney smiles and swats Jonny on the shoulder as he walks past the backside of the couch. “Jonny it is then.”

He sees a smile linger on Jonny’s face as he takes his cell phone out of his pocket again. Sid throws the paper towel in the trash can near the door and taps the jam, looking back at Jonny and smiling before he leaves the room.  
______________

After the game in Chicago, Sidney notices that Jonny’s not in his post game scrum. It’s a little unusual because he’s usually always in the scrum after an overtime game. But, he’s glad he doesn’t have to answer any questions about the penalty he took or the way he yelled at the ref in the third period.

He thinks that maybe he didn’t take the trip. There’s always a few roadies a year that the beat guys don’t end up taking and Jonny’s been to pretty much every game this year so he’s probably due for a break. He’s young and everything, but Sidney doesn’t think that working as much as Jonny does is probably good for a person.

It just sets him off a little, Jonny not being there, because he is the fucking king of routine. And Jonny’s judgmental looks and annoying questions have become a part of his post game. So, that’s it. He’s just a little on edge, is all, because his post game is going a little awry.

So, he goes through the rest of his routine and heads out to catch the bus when he sees that Jonny actually HAS made the trip. He just didn’t come into the Penguins locker room after the game. He must have gone to the Blackhawks room because he’s standing in the hallway right outside their locker room talking with Patrick Kane. He doesn’t have his phone stuck in Patrick’s face and he isn’t writing down anything Patrick is saying so he’s not sure WHY Jonny is standing in the hallway talking to him but that’s where he is. Sidney’s glad he solved that mystery.

He wants to say something to Jonny something along the lines of, ‘really, Jonny? You don’t make it to my post game scrum so you can talk to this guy.’ But instead he just walks right past them without saying anything.

Once he makes it past the two of them he can feel Jonny’s eyes on his neck. It makes him smile a little bit.  
__________________

Jonny actually DOES miss the next few games. When he was gone from the scrum, again, Gary makes a joke to one of the guys about how it’s nice not to have the kid around and then Sid asks where Jonny’s been and they tell him he took a few days off. Good for him, Sid thinks. He deserves it.

When the playoffs heat up Sid spends more and more time at the rink, in the training room, the locker room, the lounge. The guys invite him out to lunch or the bar or wherever, but Sid declines. He doesn’t need any more attention right now. And the guys certainly don’t need the attention he brings during this time either, so he just spends his time in safe places.

He sees Jonny around everywhere because he seems to always be at the rink, too. His haunts are a little different because they mostly have him in the press box but he comes to the lounge every now and again for a change of pace.

It’s their 3rd conversation of the week and Sid likes talking to Jonny. It’s nice to have someone to talk to who knows exactly what his life is but isn’t one of his teammates. And the fact that they are around the same age makes it easy for them to relate.

Sid makes himself a sandwich and sits down across from Jonny and says, “so how were your days off?”

Jonny looks confused for a second before he remembers and says, “Oh, you mean like a couple months ago? They were good.”

“What’d you do?” Sid asks because he’s genuinely curious. He doesn't know a ton about Jonny’s outside life.

“I stayed back in Chicago for a few days after the game, hung out with a few guys I know there.”

“I missed you in my post game scrums, ya know,” Sid says and Jonny cocks an eyebrow at him.

“Did you now? I thought my questions annoyed you.”

“They don’t always. It was just weird to not have your serious face in my face all the time.”

“Really?” Jonnys says before continuing with, “sorry to disappoint.”

“Are you friends with Patrick Kane?” Sid asks and Jonny tenses up a bit. “I saw you talking to him after the game.”

“Ah, yea, I went to the Blackhawks room after the game and we struck up a conversation. We have some friends in common.”

Jonny is still looking a little tense, nervous, Sid notes. He also gets a little nervous talking about his personal life, so he gives Jonny the benefit of the doubt about his demeanor.

“Cool.” Sid says and then stops with the questions. Jonny takes his phone out and Sid walks over to the cupboards to take out the bag of M&M’s. He gets them and rejoins Jonny at the table.

“Want some?”

Jonny looks up from his phone and takes a handful, “thanks.”

Jonny goes back to his phone and Sidney watches the TV on the wall across the room. After a few minutes, Jonny breaks the silence and says, “what do you think of Kaner?”

“You mean Patrick Kane?” Sid asks because he knows that is his nickname but he’s never actually called Patrick Kane it, so he doesn’t think that he is entitled to refer to him as ‘Kaner.’

“Yea,” Jonny says and then follows up with, “completely off the record.”

“What does that mean ‘off the record.’” Sid asks smiling. Why is Jonathan Toews asking him about his personal feeling about Patrick Kane?

“Come on, Crosby, we’re co-workers. Sometimes co-workers just chat with each other about shit.” Sidney likes Jonny, as far as media guys go, but he had never really thought of them as co-workers. They don’t work in some office where they gather around the water cooler and shit.

“Um, I don’t really know what that means, but, if it really matters to you, I don’t know much about him. He’s a good player,” Sidney says and Jonny rolls his eyes at him.

“I know that, stupid. What kind of guy is he, what kind of reputation does he have around the league,” Jonny says.

“Um, I’m not exactly the person you should be asking but I think he’s kind of, like, a party guy. Likes to go out and have a good time.”

Jonny nods his head at him and picks his phone back up. Sidney looks at him for another second and goes back to watching the TV. After not paying attention to anything going on Sidney says, “Why all the questions about Kane?”

Jonny tenses up again and rocks back and forth in his chair a few times before saying, “Okay, Crosby. You know how we were talking about off the record before?” Sidney nods his head yes. “This is way off the record-like as far off the record as possible.”

Sid nods his head again and says, “I’m not even a writer, Jonny, I have no record to even go on.”

Jonny looks at him intently before speaking up again. “Okay. Well.” Then he stops.

Sidney sits and isn’t sure if he should say something, or just wait, or what to do right now.

“Okay,” Jonny finally speaks up, “Okay, I’m actually going to tell you this.”

Sidney continues to sit in his chair and wait for Jonny to spit it out. What the fuck is he about the say that is making him so weird right now?

“I, uh, hooked up with Kaner when we were in Chicago and then I spent the next couple days with him and now we are maybe dating?” Jonny says and Sidney narrows his eyes at him.

Did this kid just tell him that he’s a. gay, b. hooked up with Patrick Kane and c. might be dating him? Is that what Jonathan just told him? Hold the fuck up. He’s going to need a second to compose himself.

Jonny, in typical fashion, picks his phone up and stares at it in his serious way. Sidney gives himself another minute to digest and then says, “really? Patrick Kane?”

Jonny looks up at him and cracks a smile, “yea, that’s why I was asking.”

Sidney doesn’t know why Jonny’s smiling right now or, for that matter, why he started smiling when Jonny did but he says, “good luck with that, Jonny. Really.”

Jonny kicks him under the table and says, “shut up.”

Is this what normal co-worker talk about at work, Sidney wonders. Because he’s not sure sex is something that is kosher to talk about around the water cooler. But, then again, he takes a shower with half of his co-workers, so he doesn’t think this situation is really comparable.

When he’s driving home that night Sidey can’t stop thinking about Jonny and Patrick Kane. Like, what the fuck? It’s true he doesn’t know much about Kane, but from what he knows of Jonny he should definitely be fucking someone with a better reputation. Jonny’s a good guy with, like, a nice body. He has that weird serious thing going on with his face. But, Sidney enjoys when that face is turned into a smile.

Then after Sidney ends that train of thought (he lets it go a little further-to thinking of Jonny naked further), he stops himself and says, “oh, shit.”  
____________________

When his team wins the Stanley Cup, Sidney is technically injured but feels nothing but pure joy. It might be the cortisone shot or the Vicodin but he thinks it’s probably just the feeling of dreams coming true. Everything moves at triple the pace and focusing on one thing is becoming a problem. There are so many hands and questions and so much liquid being forced down his throat.

He runs into Jonny in the bathroom. He’s also drenched in champagne and has a dopey smile on his face. Sidney has kind of been avoiding him since their last conversation, but when he sees Jonny standing there fixing his horrible hair in the mirror he grabs his shoulder and says, “what the fuck are you doing? You know you’re just going to get drenched again.”

Jonny steps away from the mirror and turns to him. His face looks ridiculous-shiny and smiley- and he opens his mouth to say something to him but Sidney pushes him into the nearest stall before he has a chance to spit it out.

He locks the door and turns them around so Jonny’s back is against it. He’s got his hands hard on his shoulders and his eyes are darting all around Jonny’s face.

“Focus,” Jonny says, grabbing the sides of Sid’s face, “fucking focus, Crosby.”

Sid looks into Jonny’s eyes-focusing there. Then moves them to his lips. Jonny lunges his face towards him and catches his lips in an uncoordinated and hard kiss. They nip at each other, hard and crushing, for a few seconds before Jonny pulls his head back and whispers, “focus,” before softly pushing their mouths back together.

They kiss much slower and Sid moves his hand up into Jonny’s hair. He didn’t think he could feel any better than the moments after they won the cup but fuck, this feels amazing.

Someone comes into the bathroom yelling something incoherent. Sidney immediately stops and moves as far away from Jonny as he can in the stall. He puts his finger in front of his lips and Jonny rolls his eyes at him. When whoever leaves, Sid unlocks the latch and pushes Jonny out of the stall.

“I gotta go, like, celebrate with my teammates,” he says walking out without glancing back.  
_______________

After all the celebrations slow down and all the end of the season shit is taken care of Sid is glad to be heading back home to rejuvenate and plan his day with the cup. He spends the week before making phone calls and doing interviews. At night, he sleeps in his childhood home and it’s great.

When Talbot makes it in he’s glad to see him. It’s nice to have someone who is in the same boat. And to have him there to remind him he’s just another guy on their team. Plus, he’s a good listener.

On the night before the cup comes, he and Max order in from his favorite restaurant and hang out playing video games. After a few beers Sid rakes up the courage to say, “hey, Max, could I, ah, ask you something?”

Max smiles at him and says, “of course, bro, anything.”

“Alright,” Sidney says and then pauses. Max motions with his hands for him to continue. “How did you meet your girlfriend?”

Max laughs and punches him in the leg. “Well, we met through a mutual friend. I kept seeing her at different places we would go and, I guess she caught me eye, and I finally asked her for her number.”

Sid nods his head and continues, “how did you know that you liked her? Like what caught your eye? Besides her being like, hot, or whatever.”

“I don’t know, I guess,” Max says, “I guess there was just something about her, about the way she carried herself and she seemed really happy and I just felt, like, drawn to her I guess.”

He mulls that over for a few seconds before saying, “so why do you think that you were drawn to her and not all the other hot girls you come into contact with?”

Max makes a face at Sid then says, “I don’t know, man, you’re just attracted to some people more than others, there’s no way to explain it, really.”

“Huh, alright,” Sid says before un-pausing the game.

“Is there somebody you like, Sid?”

He stiffens and says, “I hope not.”

Max laughs at him and then proceeds to beat him at MarioKart.  
______________

By the time Sid makes it back to Pittsburgh for training camp he’s worked out that he doesn’t actually like Jonny. He was just high on pain meds and drunk on champagne and that’s why they kissed. This is the conclusion he is building his house on.

If his hearts speeds up when he sees Jonny in the locker room the first time it’s because he just put in 20 minutes on the treadmill so, of course his heart is beating a little faster. Jonny says hi and they exchange the normal questions about summer vacation and shit before going their separate ways. To say that he’s relieved when the encounter is over is an understatement. He’s glad that the conversation went almost exactly how he had scripted it in his head for the last 2 weeks.

Once the season starts Jonny stops coming to his scrum after every game. He usually only comes after a loss or an overtime win. He also only asks real vanilla questions and doesn’t try to make eye contact with Sid as he’s answering. Sid kind of loves him for it. Jonny is totally succeeding at ‘let’s not make this weird.’ What a guy, Sid thinks, what a guy.

Only, Jonny’s being all coy and a willing participant in this whole avoid each other scheme isn’t helping Sidney not be interested in him. It’s making him like Jonny even more. And he only admits that in the last few moments before he falls asleep when he’s at his most honest with himself.

After a while Sid’s got himself convinced it’s because Jonny’s in love with Patrick Kane, and kissing Sidney was just a mistake he had to apologize to Kane about because it was a true moment of weakness. Then, he just feels horrible because Jonny doesn’t even like him and he probably thinks that he, like, took advantage of him in the post cup haze. And, fuck if that doesn’t make him feel even more horrible about himself. Jonny deserves to be happy and if Patrick Kane makes him happy then so be it. Even if Sidney thinks Jonny could do much better.  
_____________

When Chicago comes to Pittsburgh to play, Jonny’s not there. Sid knows because he looked for him, surreptitiously, in all his usual haunts before the game. It totally threw him off his pre-game routine and didn’t even yield any results. Or, if he thinks about it, maybe it did yield the results he was looking for.

During his pre-game PBJ (ten minutes late) Sid has decided Jonny’s not there because he’s getting ready for Kane’s arrival after the game tonight. He’s probably slaving away in the kitchen making Kane’s favorite meal.

This is a fairly important game in the season and that fact that Jonny is missing it is pretty irresponsible on his part. He’s for sure going to have to write a story about it tonight for tomorrow’s paper. Not being there for a big story is completely out of Jonny’s character, so he must have it bad for Patrick Kane.

“Little late, eh?” Jordan says, pulling Sid out of his headspace.

“Yea, got a little held up,” Sid finally responds.

“Good,” Jordy says, “It’s good to see you, ya know, going with the flow.”

Sid’s confused and kind of just narrows his eyes at Jordan and says, “ah, yea, man.”  
_____________

A few weeks after Chicago, Sid and Jonny find themselves alone in the lounge. It’s the first time they’ve been alone in a room together in a long time. Sid thinks he’s just going to take his Twizzlers and apple juice to go, but he sees Jonny glance up at him a few times while he’s pouring. He just looks like he wants nothing more than for Sid to sit down with him. And, he probably should, to make this a semi-normal encounter.

He doesn’t say anything as he sits down on the couch across from Jonny. He’s glad when Jonny speaks up with a “Uh, hey man, how’s it going?”

“Good. How’s it going with you?” Sid says in response because this is just a normal conversation he is having with one of his co-workers.

“Yea, it’s going good. Big fan of Twizzlers, eh?” Jonny says, pointing the the heaping plate of red licorice.

“They’re the best,” Sid says. He picks one up off the top and holds it out towards Jonny, “you want one?”

Jonny grabs the candy out of his hand and says thanks.

They sit in silence for a little bit. Jonny’s got his phone out but isn’t looking at it. He’s just fidgeting with it in his hand. After another 30 seconds he says, “uhhhh,” but then stops.

Sid kind of just stares at him and waits for him to finish his sentence. After another long “uh” Jonny just shakes his head and quietly says, “nevermind.”

“Just say it,” Sid says because Jonny is definitely about to tell him that he and Patrick Kane are getting married and he is moving to Chicago to write for a paper there. Jonny should just pull the fucking band aid because Sidney’s never felt so awkward in his life, and he’s a naturally awkward person.

“Nevermind, really, wasn’t anything important,” Jonny says, picking up his phone and doing something on it.

“Whatever, man, just say what you’re gonna say.” Sid’s thought about this, Jonny leaving. He kind of wishes he would because then Sid could stop having feelings that he’s not supposed to have about Jonny’s face and thighs and stupid questions. But he would also miss Jonny and his, ya know, face and thighs and questions.

He can see the wheels turning in Jonny’s brain. He wants to yell at him and tell him to just fucking SAY IT when Jonny’s phone starts to ring. He looks at it and says, “I gotta take this.”

He practically runs out of the room. Sid stays on the couch with his Twizzlers and apple juice. He decides what he needs to do is to stop thinking about Jonny. He spends way too much brain power on this guy.  
________________

For the next month he does a decent job at pushing Jonny out of his mind. They strike a better balance of minimal eye contact during scrums. Their conversations are short, sweet and completely banal when they do run into each other. Perfect to keep Sid’s mind quiet on the Jonny front.

When Jonny comes up to him after a scrum and says, “so my editor passed it by your people and we going to to be running an editorial on you, I’ve been trying to text you about it all week.”

Sid hasn’t received one text message from Jonny since before the cup and the bathroom stall, “do you not have my new number?”

“What do you mean?” Jonny looks genuinely confused.

“After the cup my phone was ruined because of all of the liquids. I was still on Mario’s plan so I decided to go on my own and had to get a new number.”

Jonny coughs and looks away, “wow,” he says after clearing his throat once more, “that explains so much.”

“Have you been trying to get a hold of me?” Sid asks because last he checked they were doing the whole avoiding each other thing, expertly, he might add.

“Ah, I mean, kind of, but.” He pauses. “It doesn’t matter right now. About this story, I’m supposed to take you out to dinner and shit, ya know, a fluff piece.”

“You passed this with the Communications guys?”

“Yea, you should be getting an email about it.”

Jonny’s fidgeting with his phone in his pocket. It’s making Sid nervous and drawing his attention to places where it shouldn’t be.

“Here let me give you my new number and you can send me the details about the interview.”

Jonny pulls his phone out of his pocket and Sid gives him his new number and they awkwardly say goodbye.

Fuck, Sid thinks. This dinner isn’t meshing with his ‘push my attraction to Jonny down, down, down’ plan. Thankfully, Jonny is probably on the same page so it’s going to be fine.  
___________

The dinner starts real boring and media-y. They eat and talk about hockey shit and Jonny actually asks him some good and insightful questions. It shouldn’t surprise him as much as it does because he knows Jonny is good at his job. After they finish eating, Jonny turns the recorder off and they sit at the table waiting for the check.

Once Jonny has the recorder safely in his pocket he says, “so you really changed your phone number right after the cup?”

“Yea, I tried to turn it on the next day and it was a goner, completely covered in champagne.” It wasn’t that nice of a phone, so Sid wasn’t that upset about it. And, he had been meaning to get off of Mario’s plan.

“So, you didn’t get any of the text messages I sent you over the summer?” Jonny’s got his serious face on, but not the reporter one.

“No, man, sorry.” Sid doesn’t know why Jonny would be sending him texts all summer. Maybe it was just reporter shit?

“Wow. I thought you were just straight up ignoring me after the whole bathroom thing.” The waiter comes with the check and it gives Sid a distraction and a second to digest for a second.

“Um,” he says as Jonny throws his company card onto the platter with the bill, “not intentionally, I guess, I didn’t know you were sending me messages. I thought you just wanted to, like, forget about it.”

The waiter comes by to grab the platter and when he walks away Jonny says, “why would you think that?”

Sidney takes a drink from his water glass to stall for a second because his mind is going a mile a minute with all the scenarios he has dreamed up for why Jonathan Toews did not want to acknowledge their post-cup make-out session.

“Uh, because you’re dating Patrick Kane,” he finally says as the waiter is walking back with Jonny’s card.

Jonny snatches the card out of the poor waiters hand and aggressively forces it back into his wallet. “I am not dating Patrick Kane,” he finally says after he sticks his wallet back into his pocket.

“I seem to remember that you were.”

“I WAS dating Patrick Kane and then YOU pushed me into a bathroom stall and kissed me so then I broke up with Patrick Kane and spent the summer sending you increasingly pathetic text messages until I finally gave up.” Jonny’s face gets more and more red as he talks and he’s a nice shade of baby doll by the time he finishes.

“You’re just going to have to hold on for a second while I gather myself,” Sidney says because he doesn’t know what to do with this shit Jonny just said to him.

After a few sips of water and a few aborted starts he finally says, “you broke up with Kane after the bathroom? But you didn’t go to the Chicago game. And.” He takes another sip of water, “and you avoided me once the season started.”

“Did you miss the part where I told you that I sent you a million texts over the summer? Because I, more or less, confessed my undying love via text message by the end of July and I didn’t get one. fucking. response.”

“Well, that’s because I didn’t get one text message!”

They’re are sitting in a table at the back of the restaurant and it’s a good thing because the noise the Sid’s chair makes when he pushes himself away from the table in frustration is repulsive. They do get some looks from the people around them but it doesn’t disturb the dining public at large.

“Okay,” Jonny finally says after too much silence, “okay. So, what are we going to do now?”

Sid puts a finger out to show Jonny that he’s going to need to wait before he says anything. What Sid should say is that they aren’t going to do anything because they can’t be interested in each other. This can’t be something they do because there are just too many variables and there is too much wrong with this. But, when he looks at Jonny, without the filters and circumstances, he sees a kid who driven, intelligent, responsible and so fucking attractive to Sid.

“Fuck,” he finally says because Jonny’s started to look dejected, “Jonny, I really fucking like you, like, a lot. Like I’ve never felt so drawn to someone before I met you.”

“I feel the same way, Sid. That’s why I broke up with Kaner. I really just wanted to be with you all along, anyways.”

Sid can’t help but smile and Jonny does the same.

“You’re not going to write this in your story, right? This is off the record,” Sid says standing up.

“I’ve already written the headline: “Sidney grows up; comes out after cup.” What do you think?”

Sid hip checks Jonny into the table and says, “let’s go back to your place.”

Jonny smiles and leads him out of the restaurant. He grabs a mint from the bowl on the hostess stand and throws one to Sidney saying, “you’re going to need one of these.”  
___________

Epilogue

Later, Sidney is five minutes into blowing Jonny when he pulls off his dick with a loud pop. Jonny’s already rocked his world with a mind blowing blowjob that had Sid seeing nothing but stars. “You know,” he says, his voice a little wrecked already, “I’ve never actually done this before.”

Jonny looks down at him and moves his hands from their position tangled in his hair to the sides of Sid’s face. Sid sticks his tongue out and and licks the tip, which has started to leak. “Giving a blow job or just sex in general?” Jonny asks. He pulls his thumb across Sid’s bottom lip catching some of the precum Sid just licked off the head of his dick.

“Sex in general, I’m a virgin,” Sid says smiling.

Jonny pulls him up so they are at eye level and says, “really?”

Sid laughs softly and moves his head to lick Jonny’s ear. He makes a swipe around the outside and then whispers, “just kidding. I went to boarding school.”

Jonny rolls his eyes and pushes Sid’s back down to his knees, “get back to work, wise guy.”

Sid takes Jonny’s dick back into his mouth to finish what he started.


End file.
